The full story and vision behind A New Gift Center — in writing, and in my own voice.
If you would rather listen than read, press play. The written letter follows below.
About 5½ minutes.
Dear friend,
I am writing with good news I have carried in prayer for a long while.
After nine years on mission with FOCUS and the FOCUS Mission Foundation, I am moving on to a new venture — one that has been on my heart for some time. Many years ago, when I shared that I felt a disconnect in my work in the nonprofit sector prior to coming to FOCUS, a very wise and faithful man, Bill, named something I had felt but could not articulate. He said, in effect: of course you weren’t satisfied with your work in the nonprofit sector. You were doing good but working with organizations — like so many today — that operate as if they can accomplish good without God. Bill’s comment landed hard, because it was true — and not only of others. FOCUS, thanks be to God, was different.
My years at FOCUS have blessed me with the greatest gifts — not least of which is meeting and working alongside you. In God’s infinite wisdom, and true to the promises of philanthropy, my family and I received far more than we gave during our time at FOCUS. We will always be champions of the mission. And — you walked with me through those years; your partnership was never lost on me, and it is part of why I am writing to you now.
Across the decades I’ve spent building and leading nonprofits and fundraising programs, coaching teams and sitting with philanthropists, I kept meeting the same ache. Faithful people, doing genuinely good work, quietly running on a secular playbook. And at the same time, philanthropists who were seeking to give, and nonprofits seeking to develop their operations, were left to copy from models that removed faith — that infused the concept of good works, without God.
I experienced then what I know now: when the work is not rightly ordered, everything strains — governance, culture, and especially fundraising. And I was by no means perfect.
Meanwhile, something beautiful is rising around us. Catholic apostolates and nonprofits are being founded at a remarkable pace, many by entrepreneurs in a second season of life. Nonprofit and business leaders, fundraisers, and volunteers are asking real questions. And the resources they need — sound governance, faithful fundraising formation, wise philanthropic counsel — exist in pockets of real excellence, but scattered across our Catholic communities of excellence.
So, with much prayer and counsel, guided by the Holy Spirit, A New Gift Center for Catholic Philanthropy & Nonprofit Excellence™ has been launched. This kind of center is, frankly, long overdue. There are many fine centers of nonprofit excellence where people go for training, advice, and community — but I am aware of none built for the particular needs of Catholic apostolic leaders and founders, fundraisers, and philanthropists: those who walk with our community as they build and serve, seeking first the Kingdom.
A New Gift Center brings together and unifies the resources needed for rightly ordered philanthropy, and provides a place for retreat, renewal, and fellowship. It offers two gifts at once: a true retreat — space to step back and be renewed — and a trusted home to connect with the excellence needed by mission-driven leaders, teams, and philanthropists alike. We begin with God before we begin with strategy. Gathered around the center are four works:
In the coming weeks I will share our first retreat dates and introduce the collaborators who have already said yes — friends and experts lending their faith and their knowledge to this work. I would love to add your name to that list.
Today, A New Gift Center travels. We are meeting at retreat centers and gathering in places created wherever friends and partners lend a hand, open their doors, and welcome others into community. Around the country, we meet people where they are — bringing together nonprofit leaders, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, fundraisers, and trusted advisors for conversation, formation, discernment, and renewal. In every place we gather, the Center seeks to make visible the kind of community Christ calls us to become. We remain open to the permanent home God may call us to create — a place rooted in discipleship, charity, learning, and service, where people can gather, retreat, study, discern, build, and be sent forth strengthened for their work.
Love is not simply one of the Center’s values. It is the sign of our discipleship and the standard by which our work should be known. It shapes how we give, welcome, listen, lead, advise, fundraise, and serve. It calls us to place professional expertise in service to the human person, and to build organizations in which excellence is expressed through both competence and heartfelt concern.
This is a time of remarkable promise and profound disruption. Across the Church, new apostolates, ministries, and philanthropic initiatives are emerging with energy, courage, and faith. At the same time, the charitable and nonprofit sector faces significant change — financial uncertainty, leadership strain, technological disruption, declining trust, and growing pressure to place efficiency above human relationship.
The Church has something essential to offer in this moment. Catholic organizations can show that professional excellence and Christian love are not competing ideals. Excellence rooted in discipleship is more than technically sound management: it is competence joined with compassion, stewardship shaped by gratitude, leadership grounded in faith, and service nourished by an encounter with Christ.
United and strengthened by our faith, guided by God, and grounded in love, we can become the light and example the sector needs — demonstrating that organizations can be professionally excellent and deeply human, financially sustainable and spiritually faithful, innovative without losing sight of the dignity of the person, and effective without becoming transactional. This is not simply a response to disruption. It is an invitation to renewal.
And if you’d like to take part, let me know here.
Thank you for your faithful friendship, and for the ways you have already shaped this work. I would love to hear what you are building, too.
Email Valerie Visit the Center“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.” — Ezekiel 36:26